Major British Writers II
Beginning with the 19th C Romantics and concluding with the Modernists in the early 20th C, this class will offer a variety of readings of the most influential British authors in poetry and prose. In the time we have, we’ll come to appreciate the extraordinary literary explosion that occurred during these years by exploring a wealth of styles and genres. We’ll pay close attention to questions of literary form and style and inform our readings of the texts with historical and social contexts, giving special consideration to the status of women, industrialization, and the growth of empire and colonization.

Required Texts
The Longman Anthology of British Literature Volumes 2a, 2b and 2c available at Amherst Books.

Course Policies:
Attendance: This is a discussion-based class, and your input is vital to its success. Because we are working through an extensive amount of material in a very short time, any absence will hinder your understanding of the material. However, I will allow for one absence—save it for a sick day or an emergency. Any subsequent absence will adversely affect your final grade. PLEASE NOTE: any absence after the first allowed one will count as half a letter off of your final grade! Each day of class is like a week of class during the regular semester, so don’t fall behind!

Response Papers: Twice during the session, I will ask you to hand in a short, type-written, response paper to the previous night’s readings in which you will delineate crucial themes, topics, or other issues raised by the texts. The response papers are intended primarily to stimulate and focus class discussion; they should be coherent but they need not be polished. You will sign up for the days you will turn in your responses, so make sure you keep track! Again, due to the short session, I cannot accept any late assignments.

Quizzes: It is not my policy to give pop quizzes and, as long as participation is good and it is clear that you are doing the reading, I won’t. However, I reserve the right to give quizzes when I deem it necessary (So, do the reading and you won’t be quizzed!!)

Tests: On the second, fourth, and sixth Thursday of class you will have a short test on the material covered during the previous two weeks. These tests will be comprised of short answer, essay, and multiple choice questions.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the most serious academic offense a student can commit, and is punishable by failure, suspension, or dismissal. Please familiarize yourself with the university’s policy, which may be found online at http://www.umass.edu/dean_students/rights/acad_honest.htm. Plagiarism includes but is not limited to the handing in of essays or portions thereof not one’s own, and/or failing to acknowledge ideas or expressions not one’s own through the use of quotations or footnotes. Undocumented use of web resources always constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarized papers will receive a grade of “F” and will be handed over to the dean. Any student who hands in a plagiarized paper may also fail the course at the instructor’s discretion.

Reading Schedule (subject to change with notice)
(Note that assignments are listed by due date; you should have read the assignments for the day they are listed.)

Tues, July 14th: Course Introduction
Sign up for response papers
Romantics Intro. William Blake: Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Thurs, July 16th: Edmund Burke, “A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful”; Coleridge: “Kubla Khan”; Percy Bysshe Shelley, “To Wordsworth,” “Sonnet: England in 1819,” “Mont Blanc”; John Keats, “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer,” “Sonnet: When I have fears”; “Ode to a Nightingale,” “Ode to a Grecian Urn”